Merry Late Christmas to US!!!

Santa was a little late in getting to our house this year. I guess he was looking for the best product for the least amount of $$. We have been looking for a massage chair for a LONG time. We wanted to get one for each other for Christmas. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one for the right price around Christmas. Al (being the great bargain shopper that he is) found this one online. He ordered it while we were on our Moab biking trip and it arrived that next week! We are so excited. I think I could live in this chair...it is that good.

The chair has an MP3 plug in and the bass vibrates through the seat of the chair and the head rest has the other speakers.

Here is Al massage chair dancing. I will apologize in advance...you can here me cackling quite loudly in the background.

I think I'm just a little weird b/c I thought this was hilarious!

It is official...I'm in love with this chair.

Moab on Easter Weekend

Alan's family has a tradition of going to Moab on Easter Weekend. This came about for two reasons:

1. Jeep Safari

2. Jean's spring break (Jean is Al's sister)

Our land cruiser broke 2 years ago and we haven't fixed it since. So we have not been Jeeping since Easter 2007. I think the picture below is the "notorious" obstical that broke the front axel...
We have started going down and riding mountain bikes more the last year. Granted, Al and I are not in that great of shape and each time we go down to Moab with his sister and her husband, we feel even more out of shape! Jean and Kent are totally athletic and they kick our butts in that department 6 ways from Sunday. We had a great time (despite our lack of physical abilities!). One day, we biked on these trails that meander through downtown Moab.

Here is Kent (Jean's Husband) and Seirra (their daughter) on a BMX bike course:
Seirra was laughing and squeeling like crazy! It was so dang cute! You can see her smiling below. You can see the group of us biking downtown. Starting from front to back: Skyler, Kent, Seirra, me and Jean. Alan is taking the picture. We ended up in this awesome park that had all these musical instruments they had created. Al groovin on the bongos. Alan playing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star



The second day we went on a ride called Klondike bluffs. It is about a 7 mile ride with some slick rock that even novices like me could do. :)

Here is Jean, Kent, and Seirra:
Al and I after the steep climb... View from the top:

Alan climbed out to the farthest peek and took some awesome photos!

Food Storage links...

Because of my obsession, I have searched and found some great resources for those of you who want to start using your food storage in your everyday cooking.

Here are my favorite sites thus far:

http://everydayfoodstorage.net

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net

http://funwithfoodstorage.net/forum

http://mormonfoodstorage.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoy! They really are helpful and I've already started implementing some of the ideas I've found here.

My new obsession

Our ward had an emergency preparedness fair a couple months ago and I've caught the bug. So we have started our food storage and I'm super excited. I've become obsessed with organizing and reading all I can on how to be better prepared.

If anyone has good recipes using your food storage, please share.

Road Trip & Chunky Baby

I offered to travel to Ogden & Pocatello to perform environmental rounds in the VA Clinics located there. I had a hidden agenda...I wanted to see my sister and her cute, chunky, smiley baby, Ellie.

Ellie is so dang cute. She is interactive, smiley, and has the biggest bluest eyes ever! So I'm going to share some cute pictures and brag about my cute niece.

Look at her gummer grin!

Don't mind the slobber spot on her shirt.

Here is the cute family!

Ashley & Ellie. Ellie looks more and more like Ashley each time I see her. She is going to be a heart breaker just like her mom!

I really don't think she understands peek-a-boo yet! She looks a little confused in the picture below.

I must say, she is pretty cute! But then again, I might be a little biased.

San Antonio: Food, Friends, and Legal Nurse Conference

I went to San Antonio, TX in March for a legal nurse consulting conference. There were approximately 1,000 legal nurse consultants in attendance. It was rejuvenating and exciting. I came home with new ideas for my business and I was motivated once again.


I left on a Wednesday and did not come back until Monday evening. It gave me the opportunity to hang out with friends from college. I stayed at the Marriott Rivercenter hotel. The hotel sat right on the river walk. I checked in late to the hotel and because I checked in late, my room was "upgraded" at no cost to me. It was HUGE!!


I had a king sized bed, a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a 52 inch T.V. screen. Pretty soon the room was covered with my clothes!


Shelai drove from Dallas to spend the weekend with me! She is pregnant with her second baby and it was great for her to get away from home for a little break. We ate WAY too much and laughed until we almost wet our pants. Here we are eating at a Mexican Restaurant.

The restaurant was decorated with a lot of lights and streamers. It was very fun and the food rocked!

All over San Antonio there are skeletons representing the Day of the Dead. To be honest, I find it a little creepy!


It just happened to be the San Antonio Luminaria (arts festival) the weekend we were there. They had the streets downtown closed off and had multiple stages set-up with all different styles of music. We saw the San Antonio Three Tenors (who were pretty dang good!) The San Antonio Symphony, jazz groups, and rock and roll bands.

Here is a short clip of this awesome saxophone solo. I had difficulty figuring out how to use the new camera (as evident by this EXTREMELY short clip!)



They had fireworks at midnight. My camera was slow to shoot so I got a lot of black screen shots. But here are some of the ones that worked out...



We've decided to make attending the Luminaria an annual trip for us all. It gives us a good excuse to get together and play.

I also saw Kristina and her cute family! Kristina was a great host! She picked me up at the airport, let me stay at her house Sunday night, and took me back to the airport Monday afternoon. I'm going to steal some these pictures from Kristina's blog...

Here I am with Robert & Scott. They had to wear glasses like me.


Kristina and I have been friends for 13 years. That is a LONG time! I wish she lived closer! Robert actually took this picture. Pretty dang good if you ask me. :)


Kristina and I took the boys shopping and to lunch on my last day in Texas.


The boys liked to play with my hair. Let's face it, everybody likes to have their hair played with. I must say they did a good job. I didn't even have too many knots after they were done!


I suck at playing the Wii and had an age of 54 when I first tried it. Robert made my character Mii with a Hitler mustache - - I was super hot!

By the time I left, I had an age of 34 (at least that is what I remember).


I had so much fun and I'm looking forward to going back next year for Luminaria!

Thanks again Kristina, Ryan, Robert, Scott, and Shelai! You guys made this trip really fun and special!I look forward to seeing you all again real soon!

Indecisive & reality junkie

Okay, I hate to admit that I watch the "bachelor". I got sucked into the 3 hour event last night and wondered what the crap was up with the drama associated with the After the Rose Ceremony until I saw it and I must say...WHAT THE CRAP??Talk about a way to boost your ratings. If I were Melissa, I would probably have kicked him in the junk and on national T.V.! And yet as I'm blogging this, there is a Part 2 of the Bachelor. Can I pull myself away from the T.V.? Nope, I'm a sucker that is still watching. Please someone help me cut the reality t.v. cord!!